Textbooks Come to the IPod

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I think this is a great if the devices that I am using I will be able to hear the book come alive witha voice in other words if I can be driving to work or school and be able to listen to my text book. I work a full time job and take classes at night and the Instructors do not have a problem with assigning you with three chapters to read plus a test and other assignments every week and that is just one class.

Cassandra Elliott of NC 10:11AM November 20, 2009

I just realized that I can read that Flat World Knowledge Econ book on my iPod for FREE, in its entirely. SO can you. Check it out...
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/printed-book/1628
Let's see Coursesmart match that!

Phil of CA 3:30AM August 19, 2009

"60 to 75 percent of a traditional book's cost." ??? What's so great about that, with textbooks regularly costing upwards of $150-$200? Selling books at this price point on the iPod is almost a joke, because you can't sell back the book after you're finished with it. If I buy a $150.00 print book, I can sell it back for almost $75. So the book cost me $75 in toto. If I buy the same book on the iPod, it's going to cost me at lest 60% of list - that's $90, and I can't sell it back. So where's the deal, AND I have to read it on my iPhone??? Give me a break!!
For a real price revolution, with quality and no sucker-punches, one of my teachers just adopted a book from Flat World Knowledge. It's a Principles of Econ book and it's authored by a top Economics Prof. It's FREE online, in its entirelty, AND I can buy the print edition for only $30! I can also buy it in other forms. I just bought one of the first chapters as an Mp3 (audio) for only $4.00. Noe THAT's a deal.
The early experience with the Econ book is making me look really hard at open licensed textbooks. Anyone who thinks paying $90 for a book you can only read on an iPod or on a computer is a deal is living on Mars. The publishers are still screwing us!

Phil of CA 3:25AM August 19, 2009

I would love to get my textbooks on ipod. Then I'd have them with me anywhere I go. If I'm stuck somewhere, I can study. Also, it saves trees, ink, etc. I would like more audio texts so I can listen and review in the car.

Jessica of SC 4:13PM August 18, 2009

I think this is another great example of the product as service model and points to the ways we're working differently in the digital age. I wouldn't necessarily want to use the small screen myself, but children are getting more accustomed to this kind of interface and like the commenter above says, it's a start. The price for education shouldn't be exorbitant, especially for something that will likely only be used for a semester and quickly become outdated.
http://www.scribd.com/moulicohen

Mouli Cohen of CA 6:06PM August 14, 2009

I don't like iphones and ipods. But decent text information ought to be online, on CDs, on device downloads and way, way cheaper. The notion that books must be getting more expensive to be any good is a corporate---perhaps in cahoots with colleges--lie.
Maybe we could enlist the friendly "intellectual property pirates" of China to drive down prices. Hey, they're probably going to do it for themselves--and maybe much of the rest of the world too. We might as well benefit from money sense in education too.
Textbooks need not be like bottled water---
branded, over-priced, over-hyped, and tricky.

Muser of NM 3:22PM August 14, 2009